[Archived] Middlesbrough 0 V Blackburn Rovers 1

[Flopsy]

is that if I cant find my boots?

[Tris]

99% of the time he seemed to boss the back line - as others have said a really encouraging performance from him on Saturday with some great interceptions with his head and on the ground.

And I wrote all of that about Ooijer before reading Mark Hughes' comments in todays LET ...

"At the back, we were excellent. Andre Ooijer was organising all day long, he nipped a lot of things in the bud, he got tackles in, and generally got across people when he had to.

"His was one of many excellent performances we had on the day."

Edited September 25, 2006 by Tris

[RevidgeBlue]

MOTD wasn't a good reflection of the game.

The one chance everyone seems to be referring to is when Euell went right through the middle of Neill and Zurab and missed the target when 1 on 1 with Brad. That one moment was not a microcosm of the game as a whole.

Noticeable that Ooijer was further up the field at that moment taking care of Yakubu I think. 99% of the time he seemed to boss the back line - as others have said a really encouraging performance from him on Saturday with some great interceptions with his head and on the ground.

On this evidence Henchoz won't get near the side and the idiot Todd will be off in January.

A stoutly blue and white tinted defence of the defence Tris.

I saw the game live on ART and we still don't look anything like the part in central defence.

As several others have said, we gifted two one on ones to Boro in the first half when the centre backs went AWOL and parted like the Red Sea. One to Euell and one to Yakubu. And should have gone in at HT 1-2 down.

Other than that I thought both full backs played well, Savage was immense, Tugay was poor again, MGP and Bentley were disappointing and the front two did pretty well having to feed off scraps.

We also played dominated possession in the second half without managing to kill off a desperately poor Boro side. We seem to be gradually improving but I think we might have got lucky in playing two extremely poor sides on the day in the last couple of games.

Time will tell but in the meantime no-one can complain about six points out of six no matter how convincingly they were gained. Three points against Wigan, who again are no great shakes, and it'll be a decent enough tally despite a shocking start.

[Scotty]

The gap for Euell's chance didn't appear between the two centre-halves. It appeared between Neill and Zurab. Neill was caught between marking his wide man and coming in to cover Euell. Zurab was just nowhere covering no-one. And nobody tracked Euell from midfield.

The questions I'd be asking are why Neill was left marking two men (where were Pedersen or Tugay/Savage?), why didn't Neill spot the danger and come inside to mark Euell (the more dangerously positioned player), and why Zurab was stood next to Ooijer leaving a huge gap behind him. And why no-one seemed capable of communicating to each other quickly enough that there was a gaping big hole in the defence.

All-in-all a bit of a shambolic episode in what otherwise seemed like a pretty solid defensive display. That said, I still don't like Ooijer and Zurab as a partnership, particularly when both our full-backs aren't really used to their current positions.

[LDRover]

Why can't we just be happy on a good first away win?

There'll be plenty of times when we play better than on Saturday and end up with nothing so let's just be grateful for the points. We gave Boro TWO chances at home, yes that's right TWO, while we extended Schwarzer at least three times apart from the goal. I thought down the right we created no end of problems, our front two were lively, Savage won everything and our dominance in possession was that of a team brimming with confidence.

Admittedly Boro looked a poor side but they're a poor side who've already beaten Chelsea this seaon so let's take the positives and be happy with the win for God's sake. There'll be plenty of times in this long hard season that we have real cause for complaint, no point doing it after our first away win.

[Biddy]

Why can't we just be happy on a good first away win?

There'll be plenty of times when we play better than on Saturday and end up with nothing so let's just be grateful for the points. We gave Boro TWO chances at home, yes that's right TWO, while we extended Schwarzer at least three times apart from the goal. I thought down the right we created no end of problems, our front two were lively, Savage won everything and our dominance in possession was that of a team brimming with confidence.

Admittedly Boro looked a poor side but they're a poor side who've already beaten Chelsea this seaon so let's take the positives and be happy with the win for God's sake. There'll be plenty of times in this long hard season that we have real cause for complaint, no point doing it after our first away win.

They had a few more than 2 chances. The 2 everyone are talking about are the ones that even Kuqi couldn't have missed and we were very lucky to get away with.

I think everyone is more than happy with the win however most are quite rightly still worried about the frailties at the back.

[gumboots]

Disagree with Revidge about Bentley. What you see on TV even the full game and what you see on the pitch are 2 very different things and Bentley played really well. He was always working to create space and interchanging with emerton and I'll take more performances like that from him any day.

[Eddie]

My mistake.

Edited September 26, 2006 by Eddie

[pleasure]

Disagree with Revidge about Bentley. What you see on TV even the full game and what you see on the pitch are 2 very different things and Bentley played really well. He was always working to create space and interchanging with emerton and I'll take more performances like that from him any day.

totally agree, gumboots. apart couple of lapses from zurab, the defence was rock solid.

bentley was terrific. he looked a real threat going forward and protected emerton.

he's certainly benefiting from a long run in the side, he is full of confidence and starting to show his true potential.

[Presty On Tour]

i think zurab is amazing, don't let the hair falling out fool you, he's only 24 and still learning.

since arriving from rangers on the cheap, he's has done a good job and gives his all every match.

[pleasure]

i think zurab is amazing, don't let the hair falling out fool you, he's only 24 and still learning.

since arriving from rangers on the cheap, he's has done a good job and gives his all every match.

i'm a big fan of zurab's. every defender makes mistakes (look at woodgate on saturday) and i dont think they'll be many more from him.

[thenodrog]

despite a shocking start.

Bit over the top that Simon given the current form of those 3 teams.

[thenodrog]

i think zurab is amazing, don't let the hair falling out fool you, he's only 24 and still learning.

since arriving from rangers on the cheap, he's has done a good job and gives his all every match.

Well he needs to learn quickly. At that level the ability for defenders to concentrate fully for 90 mins is more important than actual playing ability. Saying that though Neill was the only one who could see right along the line and he should have had the gumption to see what was happening and ensured that Zurab was'nt too far to the right and effectively 'holding hands' with Oijer.

[gumboots]

It just occurred to me today actually how young Zurab is because they say defenders don't really reach their peak till they are about 30 when, even though they lose pace, they have so much experience in reading the game that their positioning more than makes up for the lack of pace. All defences make mistakes. The key is to learn how to minimise the effect of those you do make. I thought it was very noticeable on saturday that with a full week to work on the defence it held together reasonably well. Yes there were chances for the Boro but it's a very rare game where there are no chances. ( City away last season?)

[pleasure]

it's a very rare game where there are no chances. ( City away last season?)

the worst game i've ever been at.

zurab'll be fine. he's just adjusting to not having todd/ nelsen alongside him.